Harley Quinn - The Arkham Asylum Deception
by Amber Mason1
Summary: Harley Quinn receives a mysterious letter appearing to be from Arkham Asylum. She follows the letter to where it came from to find herself in a situation far more deadly than she expected. Will she ever find a way out? *authors note* this takes place in Harley's own comic book universe during DC comics re-birth run
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Harley woke up to a wet tongue licking her face.

"Nathan...I know ya love me" Harley giggled as she pushed him off the top of her.

The little brown dachshund hopped off the bed and his claws skittered across the wooden floor. Harley wiped the dog slobber off her face and let out a big yawn. She rolled over and looked at the alarm clock by her bed. Seeing that it was only eight o'clock in the morning she pulled her duvet over herself and snuggled back into the covers. She closed her eyes, about to go back to sleep once again, when there's a knock at the door to her apartment. She groaned as she threw her covers off herself and dragged herself out of bed. Her feet dragged on the floor as she made her way to answer the knocking at the door. She heard the clacking sound of Nathan's claws as he followed behind her. She eventually reached her apartment door and opened it.

"Sorry to bother you so early Harl but this came for ya" Big Tony grunted, handing her an envelope.

Harley took the envelope out of Tony's hand. She examined it before she opened it. The envelope itself looked very battered, like it had come a long way. Then she saw it, written on the back: 'If undelivered please return to Arkham Asylum'. Harley's eyes widened and she very nearly dropped the envelope on the floor.

"What's wrong, Nutbuckets? Where's it from?" Tony asked, concerned.

"Arkham…it's come from Arkham" Harley responded as she sunk to the floor.

"Are you gonna open it?" Tony questioned.

"I know who it's gonna be from. Who else would it be?" Harley told him.

"You mean the Joker?" Tony affirmed.

"Exactly. It's just another way of reeling me back in. I'm not going back there Tony, not again. It's a trap. I know it is" Harley informed him.

"But what if it isn't? You never know it might be Ivy" Tony suggested.

Harley sighed and ripped open the envelope and took out the letter inside. She let out a gasp.

"What is it?" Tony asked, concerned.

Harley's eyes scanned over the letter:

Harley,

I've found something at Arkham Asylum that I think you need to see. Come as soon as you can

Ivy

"Harl, who's it from?" Tony questioned her.

"It's from Red. She's found something at Arkham" Harley told him.

"Are you going?" Tony queried.

"It's Ivy. I've got to go" Harley informed him as she rushed into her bedroom, dropping the letter as she does so.

Tony picked the letter up off the floor and examined it. He put it in his pocket and watched as Harley rifled through her wardrobe, throwing clothes over her shoulder as she goes through them. He watched her as she pulled on a pair of torn jeans and a pair of knee length black books. She put on a half red and half black vest shirt. Harley piled up her jackets on top of her bed before she pulled a black leather jacket with red sleeves off the hanger. She shrugged her jacket on as she made her way towards her weapons cupboard. She pulled out a battered brown leather gym bag as she opened the door on her armoury. She took a step back to look at her arsenal.

"Do you really think you're gonna need weapons Nutbuckets?" Tony asked her.

"Since I don't know what Ivy's found I'm gonna need to go prepared" Harley told him.

She pulled out a baseball bat and a wooden mallet and threw them into her bag. They made a heavy clunk as they hit the floor. She looked at all the guns and, after some deliberation, chose her pop gun. She also threw in a crowbar and a pair of bolt cutters. They made a heavy metallic clunk as they hit the floorboards. She paused for a moment, trying to think if there's anything she might need for her return trip to Arkham Asylum. Eventually she decided that there isn't anything else she needs and zipped up her weapons bag and slung it over her shoulder.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Tony enquired.

"I'll be fine on my own Big T. Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself. Just take care of my furry friends while I'm gone" Harley told him.

She left her apartment and hurried down the stairs and out of her building. She pushed the red button beside the old rusted garage door and it creaked before it finally starts its slow ascent. Harley ducked under the door whilst it continues to roll up and grabbed her helmet off the seat of her motorbike. She put her helmet on and climbed onto the motorbike. She settled herself in the seat and put her hand on the handle bars. She revved the engine and hears the motorbike purr into life. Harley turned the accelerator and rode the motorbike out of the garage and away from her apartment.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Big Tony watched Harley ride off into the distance on her motorbike. He took the letter out of his pocket and looked at it again. Whilst Harley might have believed that the letter came from Ivy, she had a soft spot when it came to her, he didn't have quite the same belief. He left Harley's apartment and went downstairs and into Queenie's apartment downstairs.

"Big Tony, you're early" Queenie remarked.

"Take a look at this" Tony told her, putting the letter down on the table.

Queenie peered at the letter on the table and furrowed her brow.

"So what do ya think?" Tony asked her.

"Something doesn't look right about it. Has Harley gone?" Queenie questioned him.

"She left pretty much as soon as she got the letter. Didn't you hear her bike? I don't think Ivy sent that letter" Tony concluded.

"So who do you think sent it?" Queenie queried.

"I don't know, but whoever it is I'm guessing doesn't wish our landlady well" Tony informed her.

"Are we completely sure it isn't Ivy? I know that something isn't right about that letter but how can we be sure it's not Ivy?" Queenie questioned.

"Because if it was Ivy she'd have come herself…and if not she'd have dropped Harley a phone call. There's no way she'd just send a letter" Tony told her.

"Well it's too late to stop her now since she's already gone so what do we do?" Queenie asked.

"What are the gang of Harley's up to?" Tony enquired.

"They're all out on an assignment" Queenie informed him.

"What about Eggy and Goatboy?" Tony asked.

"They're helping me with tonight's show. Don't think you can get out of it either" Queenie scolded him, sensing his next question.

"Aw come on, like I'd try something like that. So who does that leave?" Tony questioned.

"Why don't you just call Ivy? That way we'll know for sure if it really was Ivy that sent that letter and if it wasn't…well…then we'll let Ivy deal with it" Queenie suggested.

"That's actually…not a bad idea" Tony admitted, getting his cell phone out of his pocket.

He scrolled down the list of numbers until he reached Ivy's. He pushed the green call button and waited with bated breath as the phone rang. He listened to the rings and waited for Ivy to pick up. After what felt like a lifetime but was probably only about a minute a voice finally crackled at the end of the line.

"Big Tony? What are you calling for?" Ivy asked him.

"You don't know then?" Tony questioned her.

"Know what? Has something happened to Harley?" Ivy queried.

"Well…yes and no…depending on your answer to the next question. Did you send Harley a letter?" Tony asked her.

"No, I didn't. Tony, what's going on? Why is it you calling me and not Harley?" Ivy questioned him, concern creeping into her voice more and more.

"Well Harley got a letter today from Arkham Asylum from someone pretending to be you telling her to go to Arkham because you'd found something there…but clearly it's not from you" Tony explained.

"Someone sent her a letter from Arkham Asylum pretending to be me? Has she gone?" Ivy asked Tony, getting more and more frantic.

"She left pretty much as soon as she got the letter. She got changed, got an arsenal together and left on her motorbike" Tony told her.

"Do you have any idea who could have sent that letter?" Ivy questioned Tony, a hard tone in her voice.

"We thought you might have some idea of that. Although I think you and I both have the same idea as to who it might be" Tony responded.

"Don't say another word. I'm going to save her" Ivy told Tony as she hung up.

Tony put his cell phone back in his pocket and can feel Queenie's eyes on him.

"I'm guessing it wasn't from her then" She concluded.

"It wasn't but don't worry, Ivy's on her way" Tony told her.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

After what seemed like an endless ride through Gotham Harley arrived at the gates of Arkham Asylum. They were just as she remembered them from last time she was there. The rusted metal gates were sat wrong in their hinges so they were crooked, like the inmates that had once inhabited it. The brick pillars were wonky and several bricks had fallen out. That same lettering was still above the gate. As if on cue the skies opened and rain started to pour down, soaking the ground. A flash of lightning lit up the lettering and cast a shadow on the ground. There in black metallic letters was 'Arkham Asylum'. Harley took of her helmet and immediately felt the rain soak her face. Her hair started to plaster against her face and she felt it grow heavy as it got wetter and wetter. She got off her motorcycle and stood in front of the gates. She gave them a tentative push and heard the gate give a tired creak as it opened. She stepped through the gates and into the grounds. The cobblestones had weeds growing through the cracks and several of them had large chunks missing from them. Some had splintered apart where the weeds and plants had grown through them. The Asylum itself looked as it had the last time Harley had seen it. Some of the windows has been broken and boarded up again. Parts of the building were covered in ivy that had crept its way up the walls. The front doors still remained closed. As Harley got closer she could see that there was a note pinned to it. She made her way up the steps and approached the front door. She took the note off the door and read it:

Harley,

I'm inside. What I've found is in your old office. Meet me there.

Ivy

Harley puts the note in her jacket pocket. She tries pushing the front door open but it's stuck fast. Either locked from the other side or jammed. Harley reaches into her bag and grabs the crowbar. She jams it between the two doors and pulls. The wood creaks and groans under the pressure. Harley keeps pulling until eventually the wood splinters and the doors open. She steps into the Asylum and finds exactly what she expected. There is furniture everywhere, chairs and tables strewn across the floor. She makes her way through the entrance hall and into the corridors of the Asylum. As she makes her way towards what was once her office she feels memories come flooding back to her. She remembers walking these corridor's years ago when she was a doctor and not a patient. As she's walking she see's ghosts, not ghosts exactly but memories, of her past. Security guards she once used to know, other doctors and patients. Then a memory clamours for her attention. She stops for a moment, overwhelmed. She remembers the first time she walked this corridor, on her way to one of the interview rooms, on her way to meet the Joker for the first time. It was the meeting that changed her life forever. The meeting that threw her off the path she had been following and onto the one she's following now. She remembers how confident she felt that she could change the Joker. How naïve she had been to think she could change him. Instead he had changed her into the woman she was now. But she was more than what she had made him. Before she knew it she had reached her office. She paused for a moment outside the door. On the door, now covered in dust, there was still a metal plaque. Harley wiped the dust away with her finger so the text beneath could be read clearly: Dr Harleen Quinzel PhD. She put her hand on the door knob and twisted. To her surprise the door opened and she stepped into her old office. Instead of finding Ivy on the other side of the door she found her office empty. At first she thought that everything was just as she had left it all those years ago when she made the journey from doctor to patient. Everything in her office was covered in dust, nothing had been touched in years. Except there was one thing that wasn't. There was a file on her desk that wasn't covered in dust because it had been put there recently. Harley approached her desk and sat down in her chair. A puff of dust flew up into the air as she sat down. She peered at the file that was sat on her desk. There was a sticky note stuck to the front of it. It read:

Harley,

Sorry I'm not there. I think someone else is here with me. I heard a noise coming from the cells. Meet me there

Ivy

Harley took the note off the front of the file and stuck it onto the surface of the desk. She flipped open the file and wasn't surprised by whose file it was. It was the Joker's file. As tempted as she was Harley wasn't about to flick through the file and let the old demons grab a hold of her once again. She closed the file and left it on her desk. As she made her way out of her office and down the corridor towards the cells she began to wonder why Ivy would have left the Joker's file on her desk. It didn't make any sense. Ivy was the one who had always told Harley how bad for the Joker had been. She was the whole reason that she'd been able to put the Joker behind her in the first place. So why would she leave a reminder like that for Harley to find? Had she been looking through the Joker's file and simply forgotten to put it back? But why would Ivy do something like that? The more Harley thought about it the more questions filled her head. Before she knew it she had reached the cells. All of them were abandoned, all of them had the doors shut and all of them were empty, apart from one. One cell had the door wide open and a note stuck on the back wall of the cell. Harley's curiosity got the better of her and she went into the cell. She picked the note off the wall and read it:

Harley,

Surprise! If you hadn't already guessed by all my little clues it's not your beloved Ivy that's led you here! Welcome back to the Asylum and this time you're not going to get away from me! Ha! Ha! Ha!

The Joker

Before she knew what was going on the cell door slammed shut behind her and a sinister laugh filled the Asylum playing over the speaker system. It was a maniacal laugh she knew all too well. She had let herself be led into another one of the Joker's traps. He'd used Ivy to lure her in and like the fool she was she'd believed it and come running. The sound of his laughter filled her head. She went to the door in a vain attempt to try and open it and got an electric shock which sent her flying into the wall behind her. She sank to the floor, winded and shocked, as the laughter began to die down.

"This time you're playing by my rules" The Joker's voice crackled from the speakers.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

After rushing through the streets of Gotham from her apartment, Ivy finally arrived at the gates of Arkham Asylum. They were already open which meant that Harley was probably already inside. Ivy stepped through the gates and approached the Asylum. As she got closer she could see that the front doors had already been forced open, the wood was splintered and broken. She stepped through the broken doors and into the entrance hall. She looked around for any sign as to where Harley might be but couldn't see any. There were no broken doors or footprints to follow.

"Where would the Joker lead Harley?" Ivy thought aloud.

Then it hit her. The first place the Joker would lead Harley would be her old office. Ivy made her way through the Asylum corridors towards Harley's office. This place was filled with as many memories for her as it was for Harley. She thought that once she'd broken out of Arkham she'd never come back again. She'd spent far too long trapped in cells in this place, her powers repressed. She reached Harley's office door and saw that the dust that had covered the plaque had been wiped away so it was once again legible. She pushed the door open and saw the dust covered office inside. Her attention was immediately drawn to Harley's desk with a file laid upon it. She sat down in Harley's desk chair and opened the file. Just as she had expected it was the Joker's file. When she closed it she saw a sticky note stuck on the desk. She read it:

Harley,

Sorry I'm not there. I think someone else is here with me. I heard a noise coming from the cells. Meet me there

Ivy

Just as she was about to rush out of Harley's old office and to the cells she heard a crackle as the speakers in the Asylum came back to life. Then a familiar maniacal laugh came through the speakers and filled the Asylum. The laughter seemed to last an eternity before the Joker's creepy voice came from the speakers.

"This time you're playing by my rules" The Joker's voice crackled through the speakers as he continued to laugh.

Instead of heading towards the cells, like Harley, and letting the Joker know that she's there, Ivy leaves Harley's office and heads towards where she remembers the control room being. As she makes her way down the corridors Ivy makes sure that she avoids being seen by any cameras just in case the Joker is watching. However his attention might be more on Harley than it is on watching all the other screens. As she's making her way there Ivy tries to think of the best way to get herself and Harley out safely. If she goes to the main control room where the Joker is she knows that he'll try to stop her. The best thing to do is to try and distract him. She decides that she'll head for one of the smaller secondary control rooms and start sending her own messages over the speaker system. She hopes that it'll distract the Joker enough that she can figure out some way to get Harley out.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Picking herself up off the floor of her cell Harley looked around for the camera that she knew was in there somewhere. Eventually she found it in the upper right hand corner of the cell. She stood on the bench at the edge of the cell and stared into it.

"Ok ya sadistic maniac, what do ya want with me this time?" Harley asked him, staring right into the camera.

"All in good time, my sweet. To find that out you've got to play my game. Now are you going to be a good little Harley and behave yourself?" The Joker's voice crackled over the speakers.

"What do you think?" Harley questioned him as she spat into the lens.

"Now that wasn't very nice, was it? If you don't behave yourself I'll just leave you in there" The Joker cackled.

Harley slumped down onto the bench and reached underneath. She pulled out her weapons bag and dug out the pair of bolt cutters. She cautiously approached the bars and place the bolt cutters carefully against the top hinge of the cell door. She attempted to cut the bar but an electric shock travelled down the handle and once again sent her flying across the cell for her efforts.

"Tut tut Harley. I would have thought you'd have learnt by now" The Joker giggled.

"Alright ya freak, I'll play nice" Harley sunk to the floor, slightly defeated.

Laughter once again filled the speakers. Whilst the Joker laughed Harley ran her fingers through her hair. She could feel that it was stuck up on end from the recent electric shocks that she had received. Eventually the laughter subsided.

"So then, Miss Quinn, I'm going to teach you a lesson. But in order to do so you have to play my game and follow my rules. If you don't…well…you're going to get far worse than a few electric shocks. Now I want you to promise me something" The Joker told her.

"Alright, what do ya want me to promise?" Harley asked, already getting bored with the Joker's games.

"I want you to promise me that if I open the door to this cell you won't go running off" The Joker ordered her.

"Fine, if that's what ya want. I won't go running off" Harley promised.

"Good, I wouldn't want to have to do something unpleasant to you if I can help it. Now I'm going to open the door to your cell and I want you to follow the arrows" The Joker informed her.

"What…?" The light's cut out just as Harley is about to ask the Joker the question that popped into her head.

Her question is immediately answered when green arrows begin to glow on the floor on the corridor outside of her cell. She noticed that there were little drips of green paint on the floor. She heard the buzzing sound that had been going on in the background cease as the Joker turned off what had been electrifying the bars to the cells she was held in. There was another click as the cell door unlocked and swung open. Harley picked her weapons bag from underneath the bench and slung it over her shoulder. She cautiously left the cell and followed the first glowing arrow she could see. The corridor was eerily lit by the green light coming from the arrows, highlighting a path a head of her. Since she had no other choice than to play the Joker's game, Harley followed the arrows. As she followed them she wondered where the Joker could possibly be leading her.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

As Ivy made her way to the secondary control room she could hear the Joker talking to Harley.

"All in good time, my sweet. To find that out you've got to play my game. Now are you going to be a good little Harley and behave yourself?" The Joker's voice crackled over the speakers.

Ivy didn't like the sound of what she was hearing and began to move faster through the Asylum's corridors. She was only hearing half the conversation of course.

"Now that wasn't very nice, was it? If you don't behave yourself I'll just leave you in there" The Joker cackled.

Ivy stifled a giggle because she knew that even though the Joker had her locked in a cell Harley was still rebelling against him. She imagined what Harley could be doing in the cell that could be irritating the Joker. Ivy paused for a moment, trying to remember which direction the secondary control room was. It took her a few seconds but she eventually turned right and carried on down the corridor.

"Tut tut Harley. I would have thought you'd have learnt by now" The Joker giggled.

Ivy pondered for a moment what Harley could possibly be doing. At last Ivy reached the control hub of the asylum. There were several doors in front of her. She knew that the door directly ahead of her would lead to the main control room where the Joker would be so she didn't want to go in there. She tried the first door to her right but found it locked. She took a step back and kicked the door causing the lock to splinter and the door flew open.

"So then, Miss Quinn, I'm going to teach you a lesson. But in order to do so you have to play my game and follow my rules. If you don't…well…you're going to get far worse than a few electric shocks. Now I want you to promise me something" The Joker told her.

Ivy looked at all the switches and screens in front of her. She could see lots of red lights, which meant that the power was on but nothing was switched on. She took a seat in the chair in front of the switch board and carefully examined the label above each button.

"I want you to promise me that if I open the door to this cell you won't go running off" The Joker ordered her.

Ivy eventually found the switch and turned the screen for the cell block came to life. She just hoped that turning on her feed wouldn't turn off the Joker's. She looked at the image on her screen and could see a row of cells. She eventually found the one that Harley was in. She looked back down at the control panel and tried to find the switch to turn the sound on and the switch to turn the video feed on for Harley's cell.

"Good, I wouldn't want to have to do something unpleasant to you if I can help it. Now I'm going to open the door to your cell and I want you to follow the arrows"

The Joker informed her.

Ivy just found the switches for the sound and for Harley's cells video feed as the lights went out. She saw the green arrows in front of Harley's cell glow, casting and eerie green light against the walls. She watched as the door to Harley's cell was unlocked and swung open. She saw Harley pick up a bag from underneath the bench in her cell before she left it. She watched Harley follow the arrows through the cell block until she was off the screen. Ivy looked back down at the control panel and tried to figure out which room Harley would be going into from the cell blocks. She also tried to figure out which room the Joker would be leading her to. Eventually Ivy managed to switch on the next screen and saw Harley following more of the glowing green arrows. Ivy managed to flick on a few more screens and saw more the green arrows lighting up the floor and the walls. It didn't take her long to figure out where the Joker was leading Harley. She flicked on the feed for the interview rooms to see what awaited Harley in there. When the screen did come on Ivy couldn't tell what was in the room because it was bathed in darkness. There were no glowing green arrows to light up anything here because this was the final destination. Ivy wouldn't know any more than Harley what was in that room. She glanced back at the screens with the glowing green arrows and could see that Harley had almost reached her destination. Ivy searched the control panel to see if she could find a switch to turn on the microphone in her control room. That way she could talk to Harley, but it would alert the Joker to her presence. She just hoped that it would take him a long time to find her.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

As Harley followed the trail of glowing green arrows lighting her way she wondered where the Joker could be leading her. It was hard to recognise what part of the Asylum she was in with the lights out. Darkness seemed to have a way of making something that once used to be so familiar seem like a strange and almost eerie place. Eventually though, Harley began to recognise the route she was taking and she knew where she was going. She was heading towards the interview rooms she used to conduct interviews in with patients when she had been a doctor. It was also the place where the people who used to be her colleagues took her to try and figure out why she did what she did. She kept following the green glow until she reached an interview room she knew all too well. It was the interview room where she'd first met the Joker. She remembers how young, naïve and hopeful she had been back then. How sure she had been that she could cure him. The Joker had painted a little smiley face on the door. Its glowing green eyes stared at her, almost mocking her.

"You have reached your destination" The Joker announced.

The lights came back up and the smiley face disappeared. The door to the interview room swung open. Harley tentatively stepped inside and was taken aback by what waited for her on the other side. The walls, ceiling and floor were plastered with newspaper clippings and photographs. Harley stepped into the centre of the room and took a long look at the clippings that were on the wall in front of her. Some of them were articles about some of her recent escapades in Coney Island. All of the photos were of herself with her friends. As she got closer to them she could see that parts of them had been scribbled out or scratched out. It took her a while to figure out what was missing from the photographs and articles. When she got closer she saw what the Joker had scribbled out and scratched out of all of them. Every single article and photo was of herself and Ivy. And in every single one of them Ivy's name had been crossed out and in every single photo Ivy's face had been scratched out.

"Ivy" Harley whispered under her breath, hoping the Joker hadn't heard her.

"Have you figured it out yet?" The Joker asked her, a dangerous tone entering his voice.

"This is about Ivy, isn't it?" Harley questioned him, searching for the camera in the room.

"Very good, Harley, I'm impressed. I'm not happy, as you might have gathered, with your relationship with her" The Joker admonished her, the light tone going out of his voice.

"Well guess what Joker, my relationship with Ivy has nothing to do with you and that's how I want it to stay" Harley shouted at the camera, having found it at last.

"It has everything to do with me. I created you Harley, don't forget that. You are my toy. My plaything. I didn't make you for anyone else" The Joker growled at her.

"So you're telling me you're jealous because I found happiness with someone who isn't you?" Harley asked, getting slightly bolder.

"Jealous? No. I'm not jealous. I just don't like anyone else getting to play with my toys. You belong to me!" The Joker declared.

"I don't belong to anyone. You might have created me but that doesn't mean anything. Not anymore. I escaped from you and I became who I am. I'm more than you ever made me and you can't stand it. Ivy is a part of me. She's part of what made me who I am. She always told me that you were bad for me and it took me a long time to listen to her but I'm so glad that I did" Harley told the Joker.

There was a long silence and Harley began to wonder if she had managed to silence the Joker. Then she heard a humming sound coming from the wall behind her. She turned around and saw that the wall was sliding open to reveal a machine gun behind it. Harley quickly ducked down and pressed herself against the floor. She heard the bullets whizz over her head and ping off the wall on the other side of the room. When the torrent of bullets stopped Harley picked herself up off the floor.

"I hope I won't have to do anything like that again" The Joker growled.

"What do you want me to say?" Harley asked him.

"You know exactly what I want you to say. Tell you what, why don't I give you some time to think about it" The Joker giggled as the door swung shut and Harley heard the lock click.

She sat down on the floor and looked at the wall that had been shredded with bullets from the machine gun that was now hidden behind the wall again. She looked at the picture on the floor in front of her. It was a picture that had been taken of herself and Ivy when they had been on their recent holiday. She briefly wondered how the Joker had got the picture, since they'd been pretty much alone on that holiday. The touched the part of the photo that had been scratched out, where Ivy's face should have been, affectionately. A tear fell down Harley's cheek. She'd come her expecting another adventure with Ivy but instead had fallen into another of the Joker's traps. She'd let her feelings for Ivy cloud her judgement and instead of being suspicious about the letter from Arkham, like she had been to begin with, on learning it was from Ivy she had blindly followed it here. She was stuck in yet another one of the Joker's games. She'd sworn that she'd never let him do this to her again but here she was. Trapped in an interview room in Arkham Asylum, forced to play his game.

"Don't lose hope Harley, I'll find a way to get you out of here" a familiar voice came through the speakers.

"Ivy?" Harley asked, getting up from the floor and looking up towards the camera.

"Who else would it be?" The voice asked her.

"It could be the Joker playing another one of his tricks. I wouldn't put it past him" Harley told the voice.

"Do you want me to prove that it's me?" The voice questioned her.

"You can try but he probably knows everything there is to know about the two of us so that wouldn't prove anything" Harley stated.

She heard the voice let out a sigh.

"I'm going to let you out of the room you're in. Head towards the Asylums recreation room. You know the one I mean. The one that gives you a good view of the main control room" The voice told her.

Harley heard the lock on the door click and the door swung open once again. She tentatively left the interview room, sensing yet another trap. She made it safely into the corridor and began to make her way in the direction the voice that sounded like Ivy had suggested. Harley still wasn't sure if it was just the Joker playing even more games with her or whether Ivy really had come to save her. Either way Harley had no other choice than to follow the instructions she had been given and find out what was going on.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

By the time Harley reached her destination Ivy had found the switch for her microphone. She left it off for the moment, ensuring she wouldn't alert the Joker to her presence unless it was absolutely necessary. She saw that Harley was in front of the door of the interview, a glowing green smiley face painted on the door lighting up her face.

"You have reached your destination" The Joker announced.

The light's came back up and Ivy finally got a glimpse of what awaited in the interview room before Harley entered. All she could see were newspaper clippings and photographs plastered all over the wall, floor and ceiling. Ivy got closer to the screen to try and make out what they were but the image was too grainy to make anything out properly. She watched as the door swung open and Harley walked into the room. She saw Harley take in her surroundings, looking at everything that was plastered on the walls. As Harley got closer to them Ivy thought she saw something in Harley's eyes, some sort of understanding or recognition. The longer Ivy looked at the image on the screen the more she could was starting to make out. She still couldn't see what the articles and photographs were of but she could tell that someone had been scratched out of the photographs and that something had been scribbled out of the newspaper articles. She figured out what at the same time as Harley.

"Ivy" she heard Harley whisper under her breath.

"Have you figured it out yet?" The Joker asked her, a dangerous tone entering his voice.

"This is about Ivy, isn't it?" Harley questioned him.

Ivy could see Harley searching the room for the camera so that she could talk directly to the Joker.

"Very good, Harley, I'm impressed. I'm not happy, as you might have gathered, with your relationship with her" The Joker admonished her, the light tone going out of his voice.

"Well guess what Joker, my relationship with Ivy has nothing to do with you and that's how I want it to stay" Harley shouted directly into the camera, having found its location at last.

In that moment Ivy was incredibly proud of Harley, she just hoped that Harley's bold statements didn't provoke the Joker into doing something stupid.

"It has everything to do with me. I created you Harley, don't forget that. You are my toy. My plaything. I didn't make you for anyone else" The Joker growled at her.

"So you're telling me you're jealous because I found happiness with someone who isn't you?" Harley asked, getting slightly bolder.

Ivy was encouraged by Harley's boldness and bravery, despite being trapped in the middle of one of the Joker's games. She thought that perhaps Harley was winning.

"Jealous? No. I'm not jealous. I just don't like anyone else getting to play with my toys. You belong to me!" The Joker declared.

"I don't belong to anyone. You might have created me but that doesn't mean anything. Not anymore. I escaped from you and I became who I am. I'm more than you ever made me and you can't stand it. Ivy is a part of me. She's part of what made me who I am. She always told me that you were bad for me and it took me a long time to listen to her but I'm so glad that I did" Harley told the Joker.

A silence followed the speech that Harley had just made. She thought for a moment that Harley had finally silenced the Joker and won the little game that he'd been trying to play with her. But then she heard a low humming sound and as she looked up at the screen she could see a wall sliding open. She watched in horror as it slid open to reveal a machine gun. She was about to switch the microphone on and warn Harley about the imminent threat when Harley turned around and saw the machine gun and immediately ducked down and hugged the floor. The torrent of bullets passed perilously close over Harley's head and instead hit the opposite wall. When the dust from the bricks cleared Harley rose up from the floor, clearly shaken.

"I hope I won't have to do anything like that again" The Joker growled.

"What do you want me to say?" Harley asked him.

"You know exactly what I want you to say. Tell you what, why don't I give you some time to think about it" The Joker giggled as the door swung shut and locked Harley in the interview room.

Ivy watched as Harley sank back down to the floor, staring at the wall that had been shredded by the bullets. She watched as Harley looked at the photo on the floor in front of her. Ivy still couldn't make out what it was a photo of but she watched as Harley reached out to touch it. She saw Harley's hand stroke the scratched out piece of the photo affectionately. As she watched a tear fall down Harley's cheek, Ivy could feel a tear trickling down her own. Ivy decided to take matters into her own hands. It was time to take action, even if that would mean that the Joker was alerted to her presence. She couldn't leave Harley in there alone. She turned on the microphone. She held her breath for a second, steeling herself for what was going to happen as soon as she spoke.

"Don't lose hope Harley, I'll find a way to get you out of here" Ivy told her.

"Ivy?" Harley asked, getting up from the floor and looking up towards the camera.

"Who else would it be?" Ivy asked her, trying to hide the fear in her voice.

"It could be the Joker playing another one of his tricks. I wouldn't put it past him" Harley told her.

"Do you want me to prove that it's me?" Ivy questioned her.

"You can try but he probably knows everything there is to know about the two of us so that wouldn't prove anything" Harley stated.

Ivy sighed, knowing that Harley was right. In the corridor outside she heard a door open, knowing that it was the Joker coming out of his control room Ivy knew that she had to act now, before it was too late.

"I'm going to let you out of the room you're in. Head towards the Asylums recreation room. You know the one I mean. The one that gives you a good view of the main control room" Ivy told her as she searched the control panel for the button that was unlock the door.

It didn't take her long to find it. She pressed the button and watched the door swing open. She could hear the Joker kicking doors in as he made his way down the corridor. Ivy knew that it wouldn't be long before he found her. She watched her screen and saw Harley tentatively walk out of the door, clearly sensing that it might be another trap, not knowing that it was Ivy talking to her. When she'd made it safely into the corridor Harley started to head in the direction Ivy had told her to go in. Just as Ivy quietly celebrated her small victory over the Joker the door to her control room burst open as it was kicked in. Framed in the doorway was the Joker. He smiled at her in a most unsettling fashion. Ivy shrank away from him. The Joker approached her and Ivy braced herself for what she thought was about to happen. Instead the Joker reached over her head and turned off the switch to Ivy's microphone.

"Wouldn't want to let Harley think you're actually here just yet, my dear. Now you're coming with me where you won't be able to make any more trouble" The Joker leered at Ivy.

He grabbed Ivy off the chair and pushed her out of the room. He led her through the Asylum and Ivy wondered what his twisted mind had in store for her. She had gone there intending to save Harley from the Joker but now it looked as though they would both need saving. The only problem was Ivy knew that no help would be coming.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Harley made her way through the Asylum, still not trusting that the voice that had given her instructions to be Ivy. The last time she'd been in the Asylums recreation room she'd been planning her escape with the Joker, which made her think more and more that this was just the next step in his game. But how would he get his own voice to sound so much like Ivy's. Did he use some old recordings? Or did he use some sort of vocal manipulation device? Harley supposed it wouldn't be long until she found out since she'd get a great view of the Joker from the recreation room. She remembers the Asylum's guards and doctors hiding behind the inches thick bullet proof glass that protected them in the main control room. She imagines that the Joker will be too, leering at her from behind the glass, taunting her. After following the twists and turns of the corridors for what seemed like hours but was probably more like fifteen minutes, Harley reached the double doors the led into the recreation room. She paused for a moment before opening them, dreading what horrors might lay behind them. She steeled herself and pushed the doors open. She was surprised to find the room empty, she had been expecting to find something inside, what she had expected she wasn't quite sure but instead she found nothing. In that moment she thought that perhaps it had been Ivy that had led her here and not the Joker. That was until she looked up at the control room and saw the Joker's smiling down on her. The bank of screens behind him were all blank, she had the feeling that was deliberate. She backed away from the glass box and the Joker's leering smile.

"Hello Harley, it's nice to see you in the flesh at last" the Joker's voice still came through the speakers, which Harley found odd considering she could hear him through the glass.

"Well I'd like to say it was nice to see you…but I'd be lying" Harley admitted.

She expected the Joker to go into one of his rants again but instead he continued smiling at her. She found the smile unsettling. It was like he knew something that she didn't, and she had the horrible feeling that he probably did.

"Have you been having fun playing my little game so far?" The Joker asked her, batting his eyelashes.

"It's been great. It's been shocking" Harley joked.

The Joker laughed and Harley could almost feel it shaking the floor beneath her.

"Oh, Harley, you do crack me up! Now back to our little game" the Joker leered.

"Just before we get back into out game how did you do that trick?" Harley asked him.

"What trick?" The Joker questioned, acting innocent.

"You know the one I mean. How did you make it sound like Ivy was here?" Harley pressed him, not being put off by his act.

The Joker began to laugh again, but this time it was different. There was something sinister and threatening about this laugh. Something truly evil.

"You've brought us nicely to the next part of our game" the Joker giggled, clapping his hands together.

"But you've not answered my question" Harley stated.

"I'm about to" the Joker growled.

Harley watched the Joker as he turned his attention to the control panel. He dramatically flicked a switch on and one of the screens behind him burst into life. Harley was too far away to make out what it was, since she'd spent most of the exchange with the Joker backing away from the glass box he was enclosed in. He gestured for her to come closer and her curiosity compelled her to so. As she got closer she could make out a figure on the screen but she couldn't quite tell who it was. It was when she got so close to the Joker's glass cage that her nose almost touched the glass she could tell who it was she was seeing. Harley crashed to the floor in shock. There on the screen, huddled in the corner of a room in the Asylum was Ivy. So it had been her voice she had heard all along. Ivy had been trying to help her escape and in doing so had got herself caught by the Joker and was now in the middle of his twisted game. An angry tear fell down Harley's cheek as the Joker's laughter filled the room. Having recovered from the shock Harley rose up, angry, and pressed her face against the glass.

"Where are you keeping her?" She yelled at the Joker, smashing her fist against the glass.

"Do you really think I'm going to make it that easy for you?" The Joker smiled at her, enjoying her pain.

"Alright, I'll play your game" Harley conceded, hoping she'd be able to find a way to save Ivy.

"Good. Now I'm going to give you a clue as to where I might be keeping your precious flower. Let's see if you can work it out" the Joker teased her.

"Been learning from the Riddler, have we?" Harley questioned, growing impatient with the Joker's teasing.

"She's somewhere that no plant life could possibly survive" The Joker leered.

It didn't take Harley very long to figure out where the Joker had locked Ivy.

"You've locked her in Mr Freeze's old cell, haven't you?" Harley deduced.

The Joker started applauding her, meaning she had guessed right. Harley began to panic. She didn't know what the sub-zero temperatures would do to Ivy but she knew that it wouldn't be anything good.

"Very good, Harley. You've passed that test. Now all you have to do is find her in time" the Joker laughed.

"What do you mean I've got to find her in time?" Harley asked him, fearing that she already knew the answer.

"I'm slowly lowering the temperature in the room. If you don't find her within the next half an hour your beloved Ivy will be an icicle" the Joker cackled as he revealed his next move.

Not waiting for the Joker's next snide remark, Harley ran out of the double doors of the recreation room and tried to recall the route to Mr Freeze's cell. She could hear the Joker's laugh echoing off the walls, following her, as she ran to reach Ivy. She ran so fast through the corridors that she had no idea what she was passing. She eventually found that she'd run back to the cells where she had originally been held by the Joker. She stopped to think which direction Mr Freeze's cell was in. Every second she wasted she got closer to losing Ivy to the Joker. She would not let him win.

"Hold on Ivy, I'm coming for you" Harley said to the ceiling, wondering if Ivy could hear her where she was.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

Ivy woke up and she felt cold. She rubbed her head, felling a lump already starting to grow on the back of her head. It takes her a few moments to remember where it came from. Then she remembers where she is and who brought her there. When the Joker dragged her out of the control room she'd been in he'd hit her over the head with the butt of his pistol, knocking her unconscious. She got up off the floor and looked around at the room he'd locker her in. She noticed her breath fogging up the air in front of her. As she looked at the walls she noticed the ice crystals that had formed on them and when she glanced at the door she noticed that it resembled the sort of door you would find on an industrial freezer. She deduced that the Joker had locked her in Mr Freeze's cell. She wouldn't be able to use her powers to escape in here, meaning she'd become a part of the game the Joker was playing with Harley. She felt the cold of the cell bite at her skin. She knelt down and huddled herself in the corner, trying to keep warm. That was when she noticed the screen the Joker had set up in her cell. It was a view of the room she'd told Harley to go in. It clearly wasn't just Harley the Joker was playing games with. He was trying to play one with Ivy too. She watched the screen as Harley pushed the double doors open, clearly expecting trouble on the other side. She saw Harley make her way forward to face the Joker.

"Hello Harley, it's nice to see you in the flesh at last" the Joker's voice came to her through a speaker in the cell.

Ivy shivered, but not from the icy temperatures in the cell.

"Well I'd like to say it was nice to see you…but I'd be lying" Harley admitted.

Ivy waited for the Joker's reaction but was surprised when there wasn't one. But then again knowing the Joker whatever his reaction would have been he was already planning something far worse.

"Have you been having fun playing my little game so far?" The Joker asked her.

"It's been great. It's been shocking" Harley joked.

Ivy heard, or rather felt, the Joker laugh at Harley's little joke. She felt the air in the room grow colder still. She huddled even tighter into the corner.

"Oh, Harley, you do crack me up! Now back to our little game" the Joker leered.

"Just before we get back into out game how did you do that trick?" Harley asked him.

"What trick?" The Joker questioned, acting innocent.

"You know the one I mean. How did you make it sound like Ivy was here?" Harley pressed him, not being put off by his act.

That's when the Joker started to laugh again, but this time it wasn't the laughter at something. It was the laughter of someone who knew something that the other person didn't. This laugh was sinister and evil and had Ivy not already been freezing it would have made her blood run cold. Both she and the Joker knew that it had truly been Ivy speaking to Harley and she had a horrible feeling that Harley would soon find that out.

"You've brought us nicely to the next part of our game" the Joker giggled, clapping his hands together.

"But you've not answered my question" Harley stated.

"I'm about to" the Joker growled.

Ivy couldn't see what the Joker was doing, the way the camera in the room was positioned meant that the part of the room the Joker was in was hidden. But she could guess from Harley's reaction what he was doing. Ivy noticed a little red light turn on in the opposite corner of the cell. She knew that meant the Joker had turned on the camera in her cell. Now Harley could see her. She watched as Harley got closer to the screen, trying to make out Ivy's figure in the image. She knew the exact moment Harley worked out it was Ivy she was seeing because Harley crashed to the floor. She saw the realisation on Harley's face as she realised that all along it had been Ivy that had been talking to Harley and not the Joker trying to play a trick on her as she had thought. She saw angry tears streaming down Harley's cheeks, as the Joker laughed. She wanted so bad to be there to comfort her but she was trapped in this ice cold cell. Harley eventually recovered and rose up, looking very angry.

"Where are you keeping her?" She yelled at the Joker.

"Do you really think I'm going to make it that easy for you?" The Joker smiled at her, enjoying her pain.

"Alright, I'll play your game" Harley conceded, clearly hoping that there was a way she might be able to save Ivy.

"Good. Now I'm going to give you a clue as to where I might be keeping your precious flower. Let's see if you can work it out" the Joker teased her.

"Been learning from the Riddler, have we?" Harley questioned, growing impatient with the Joker's teasing.

"She's somewhere that no plant life could possibly survive" The Joker leered.

She could see that it didn't take Harley long to figure out where the Joker had locked her away.

"You've locked her in Mr Freeze's old cell, haven't you?" Harley deduced.

She heard the Joker applauding Harley, letting her know that she'd got the answer right. She could see the panic on Harley's face as she figured out more of the Joker's twisted game. She was wondering how Ivy would survive in the temperatures of the cell she was in. Ivy had been wondering that herself. She was also sure that she'd been feeling the cell get gradually colder in the time she'd been in there.

"Very good, Harley. You've passed that test. Now all you have to do is find her in time" the Joker laughed.

"What do you mean I've got to find her in time?" Harley asked him, fearing that she already knew the answer.

"I'm slowly lowering the temperature in the room. If you don't find her within the next half an hour your beloved Ivy will be an icicle" the Joker cackled as he revealed his next move.

Ivy's fears were confirmed. The Joker had been setting the temperature lower slowly in the time she'd been in this cell. She watched as Harley immediately ran through the double doors leading out of the recreation room. She heard the Joker start to laugh again, feeling his victory creep ever closer. The screen in Ivy's cell turned off. The Joker clearly wanted to keep Ivy guessing as to whether Harley would reach her in time. Ivy hoped that she would but it had been a long time since Harley was last at Arkham. Ivy didn't know if Harley would remember the way to Mr Freeze's cell. Ivy herself wasn't quite sure where it was. She knew that it wasn't far from the cell block where all the ordinary inmates had been kept. She held out hope that Harley would reach her in time. But it didn't take long for Ivy to wonder what the next part of the Joker's game would be. It was one thing for Harley to find where Ivy was but how was she going to get her out? Would the Joker really let them be together? As the room began to get colder Ivy found that her mind began to get a little clouded.

"Please hurry Harley" she prayed, as her body started to succumb to the dropping temperature.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Harley remembered that Mr Freeze's cell wasn't far from the cell block so she ran in what she hoped was the right direction. She could still hear the Joker laughing but she ignored it, focusing instead on how she was going to save Ivy. She kept running, her boots thudding on the floor. She could hear her own heavy breathing in her ear. Ahead of her she could see what she thought looked like the door to an industrial freezer. When she reached it she peered through the port hole. She could see Ivy huddled in the corner, her eye's closed. She wasn't sure how much longer she had. Harley quickly pulled her weapons bag off her shoulder and rifled through it, eventually finding the crowbar. She slung her weapons bag back over her shoulder. She placed the end of the crowbar behind the handle of the door. She pulled the end of the crowbar until the door eventually gave and opened. She dropped the crowbar to the floor, hearing a heavy metallic clunk as it hit the ground, and rushed into the cell. She went straight to Ivy in the corner of the cell, not noticing the ice cold temperatures of the cell.

"Ivy? You alright?" Harley asked.

She got no response. Harley quickly took her jacket off and put it over Ivy's shoulders, attempting to warm her up. As she placed on of Ivy's arms into the jacket she felt for a pulse and, thankfully, found one but it was very weak. She could feel that Ivy's skin was as cold as ice. She took Ivy into her arms and was about to carry Ivy out of the cell when the door swung closed behind her. It didn't take Harley long to figure out that it was the Joker.

"Not so fast Harley. You both need to cool off a bit" the Joker scolded.

"You said it yourself, Ivy can't survive long in temperatures this cold" Harley told the Joker, getting angry.

"Which is why I'm turning the temperature up, slightly" the Joker explained, Harley could practically hear the smug grin that he no doubt had plastered across his face.

"How long do you intend to keep us locked up in here?" Harley asked him.

"As long as it takes for me to get the next stage of the game ready for you" the Joker informed her.

She heard the Joker laugh over the speakers in the cell and then the laughter slowly and slowly got quieter and Harley thought she could hear the faint sound of footsteps. The Joker was clearly leaving the control room where he was to go somewhere else in the Asylum, which meant he wasn't watching or listening to what Harley and Ivy were saying on his screens. Which meant that Harley and Ivy could come up with a plan as to how to get out. The only problem was that Ivy wasn't conscious at the moment and Harley had no idea how long they had until the Joker came back. Harley placed Ivy carefully back down on the floor and leant her against the wall. Harley could feel the cold biting against her skin but left her jacket on Ivy, since she need it more.

"Come on Red, I need you" Harley whispered.

She heard a moan and looked up as Ivy began to stir. Her eyes fluttered open and looked right into Harley's.

"Hey Red, nice ta have ya back with us" Harley smiled.

"Harley, what are we still doing in here?" Ivy asked her.

"I've got some bad news for ya there I'm afraid. Mr J. locked us back in here" Harley told her.

"So…how am I not dead yet?" Ivy questioned.

"Well I'd like ta say he turned the heating on but that ain't right. It's still cold in here but not cold enough ta kill anyone" Harley explained, catching Ivy up on everything she'd missed whilst she'd been unconscious.

"Well at least he's not trying to kill us…yet. So what next?" Ivy queried.

"That I don't know. Mr J's gone to set up the next stage of his game. Which means at the moment he can't see or hear us…" Harley suggested.

"So we can try to come up with a plan" Ivy caught on to Harley's idea pretty quickly.

"Luckily I've still got my weapons bag with me. Although saying that I dropped the crowbar just outside the door" Harley admitted.

"What else do you have?" Ivy asked.

Harley emptied out the contents of her weapons bag onto the cell floor. The baseball bat and mallet clunked as they hit the floor, with the bolt cutters and pop gun making a metallic clatter as they hit the ground. Ivy huddled into Harley's jacket, attempting to warm herself up. She knelt down and surveyed what they had left at their disposal.

"Well since we don't have the crowbar anymore the next best thing we've got is the bolt cutters. Since we can force the lock with the crowbar that means out only option is to cut the door of its hinges using the bolt cutters" Ivy explained.

"Once we're out of here then what? It won't take the Joker long to find us once he is back in the control room" Harley pointed out.

"If we head for your old office we can work out what we're going to do from there. It's just going to be getting there that'll be the hard part" Ivy suggested.

"Sounds good ta me Red" Harley agreed.

She bent down and picked the bolt cutters up from the floor. She lined the blades up with the first hinge at the top of the door. She clipped the first hinge and could already feel the door starting to fall away. She knelt down and lined the blades up with the bottom hinge. Again she pushed on the handles and clipped the hinge, she felt the door fall off its hinges. As she gathered her weapons back into her bag Ivy took a run up and kicked the door. It fell to the floor with a huge crash, which left Harley with no doubt that the Joker heard it. As Harley picked her weapons bag up off the floor Ivy grabbed her hand and pulled her out of Mr Freeze's cell and they ran through the corridor hand in hand as they headed towards Harley's office. Ivy handed Harley the crowbar that she had picked up after she kicked the door in. They kept running hand in hand and wondered how long it would be before the Joker found them. They ran past the cell block and there was still no sign that the Joker had found them. Harley was running slightly ahead of Ivy as they passed through the sliding door that separated the cell block from the rest of the Asylum. Harley passed through it safely but before she knew what was happening it had slid shut behind her, leaving Ivy trapped.

"No! Ivy" Harley reached through the bars.

Ivy held Harley's hand as the Joker's laughter filled the corridor. This time there was a dangerous edge to his laugh, he clearly wasn't happy that Harley and Ivy hadn't been playing by the rules whilst he hadn't been watching.

"Ivy" Harley breathed, knowing there was nothing she could do to help her friend.

Harley pressed her forehead against the bars and Ivy did the same, so they were facing each other. The Joker continued to laugh, so pleased that he had managed to separate them get again.

"Just keep going Harley. You have to stop him" Ivy whispered so that only Harley could hear her.

"But I can't leave you here. It's my fault that you're here in the first place" Harley told her, trying to hold back the tears that were brimming in her eyes.

"I'll be fine. You save me from freezing to death. Did you forget that?" Ivy reminded her.

Harley held Ivy's hands tighter, not wanting to let go. She felt a tear roll down her cheek.

"Go and stop him, you can do it Harley. You're not his play thing anymore" Ivy reassured her friend in hushed tones.

"I'll come back for you, I promise" Harley told her, as she reluctantly let go of Ivy's hand and turned away.

As she ran down the corridor towards where she knew the Joker was holed up in the Asylum, not turning back to look at Ivy. Tears were streaming down her cheeks and she could still hear the Joker's laugh ringing her ears.

"Now what's the best way to punish you for your insolence?" The Joker mused.

Harley dreaded what was coming next. Then she heard Ivy scream behind her. The sound made Harley's heart ache. She risked a look over her shoulder and could see the bars crackling as an electrical current passed through them. Ivy's body convulsed with the pain of the shock and when it finished she sank to the floor. Still Harley pushed on, more determined to stop the Joker.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

Ivy felt Harley let go of her hand and she could only watch as Harley turned away and ran off down the corridor. She could still hear the Joker laughing, she wondered how far he'd let Harley go before he stopped her.

"Now what's the best way to punish you for your insolence?" The Joker mused.

Ivy waited with bated breath for whatever was about to happen next. She knew that whatever it was it wouldn't be good. She screamed as the bars she was holding became electrified. She saw Harley turn to look behind her to see what was happening to Ivy. She felt her body convulsing as the shock coursed through her body. By the time it stopped Ivy had sunk to the ground and Harley was running off to try and stop the Joker. Ivy could hear the Joker's laugh echoing around her once again as she rose up from the floor.

"Do you really think that punishing me to get to her is going to stop her?" Ivy asked the Joker, knowing that he could hear her.

"I know it will. She loves you, you do know that don't you?" The Joker chuckled.

"Of course I know that. I love her too, she knows that" Ivy responded, hoping to distract the Joker long enough to give Harley time to get to him.

"Does she? Does she know that you love her?" The Joker teased.

"What…?" Ivy began to question the Joker, caught off guard.

"Tell me Ivy, how many times had Harley asked you to move in with her? And how many times have you said no?" The Joker questioned Ivy, an evil tone creeping into his voice.

"What are you getting at?" Ivy asked him.

"Just the fact that if you love her as much as you say then why haven't you accepted her offer. Harley clearly wants you with her so what's stopping you. What are you so afraid of?" The Joker teased.

"Who says I'm afraid?" Ivy questioned, trying to catch the Joker out.

"Come now Ivy, there must be a reason. Do you know how much it hurts Harley every time you tell her no?" The Joker asked her.

"I'm not hurting Harley. I'm still there for her, I always will be" Ivy explained.

"I've seen it. Every time you and Harley have said goodbye. I see the sad look in her eyes when you leave. She wants you there but she won't say anything because she doesn't want to make you feel guilty. I've seen her longing for you to be there" the Joker revealed.

"But…she never said anything" Ivy whispered under her breath, feeling the new revelation beginning to wash over her.

The Joker laughed as he watched Ivy's reaction through the camera. Ivy fell to the ground, her back against the iron bars of the door, tears streaming down her cheeks. Ivy wrapped Harley's jacket around her, allowing it surround her. Trying to drown in Harley's jacket to drown out the Joker's cruel laugh and the thoughts that were now bouncing around in her head. How long had Harley felt like this but said nothing? Was this just another one of the Joker's mind games? Had she really hurt the woman she loved more than anything? More tears streamed down Ivy's cheeks. The Joker still kept laughing but she could hear something else hidden in there, a cruelty. Before she had a chance to move the bars she was leaning against were once again electrified and she felt the current move through her body. She felt herself convulsing, this time holding in the scream. The pain got so intense that she could see black spots starting to dance in her eyes. Her grip on the world started to fade and she felt herself blacking out.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

Harley kept running hearing the Joker's laugh echoing around her as he revelled in causing Ivy pain. Harley tried not to let it get to her, putting all her anger into getting to and stopping the Joker. As she ran she tried to come up with a way to stop the Joker once and for all. She hopes that Ivy might try and keep the Joker talking, keeping him distracted long enough so that he doesn't see Harley coming. It doesn't take long for Harley to be proved right.

"I know it will. She loves you, you do know that don't you?" The Joker chuckled.

Harley can only hear half of the conversation, she was too far away from Ivy to be able to hear her voice. But she kept running, not wanting to stop.

"Does she? Does she know that you love her?" The Joker teased.

The question throws Harley a little. Harley knows that Ivy loves her so what game was the Joker playing with Ivy.

"Tell me Ivy, how many times had Harley asked you to move in with her? And how many times have you said no?" The Joker questioned Ivy, an evil tone creeping into his voice.

Harley begins to understand what the Joker is trying to do. He is trying to play mind games with Ivy, just as he did with Harley. Attempting to throw Ivy off guard and cause her pain, knock her down. This only makes Harley more determined to reach the Joker before he breaks Ivy like he broke her.

"Just the fact that if you love her as much as you say then why haven't you accepted her offer. Harley clearly wants you with her so what's stopping you. What are you so afraid of?" The Joker teased.

The Joker was really pulling out all the stops now. Provoking Ivy into a response. The only problem is he's not just playing games with Ivy's mind, he's playing them with Harley's too. She can only hear half of the conversation so has no idea how Ivy is responding. All the doubts that Harley had hidden at the back of her mind suddenly started scrabbling for attention. She tried to push them back down and pressed on trying to get to the Joker.

"Come now Ivy, there must be a reason. Do you know how much it hurts Harley every time you tell her no?" The Joker asked her.

Harley almost tripped over her own feet, figuring out the Joker's game. He's trying to make Ivy feel guilty. How could he possibly know all this? How long has he been watching them? What else does he know?

"I've seen it. Every time you and Harley have said goodbye. I see the sad look in her eyes when you leave. She wants you there but she won't say anything because she doesn't want to make you feel guilty. I've seen her longing for you to be there" the Joker revealed.

The anger coursed through Harley, knowing exactly what game the Joker is playing. Making Ivy feel guilty for the decisions she'd made. Using his knowledge against her. Harley couldn't imagine the pain that Ivy was going through in that moment. She wished she could be with Ivy to reassure her, to tell her that everything was going to be alright. She kept pushing on, knowing she was so close now to where the Joker had hidden himself away. Harley heard the Joker's cruel laugh filling the corridors. She wished that he'd just stop enjoying himself so much playing these games. Tears started to brim in her eyes once again but she quickly wiped them away. Then the Joker's laugh changed slightly. There was a malice behind it and Harley knew that mean the Joker was doing something to once again punish Ivy, even more than he had been doing already. Luckily Ivy had managed to keep the Joker busy for long enough because Harley finally reached the corridor where she knew all the control rooms of the Asylum were. She could hear the Joker's laugh coming from behind the door right at the end of the corridor. Harley dug her baseball bat out of her weapons bag and ran at the door. She leapt up from the floor and kicked the door open, landing in a forward roll on the other side. The Joker turned around shocked, having been distracted watching Ivy on the screen. Harley could see that she had passed out from the pain of yet another electric shock from the sliding door she had her back pressed against. Harley gripped the bat more firmly, her anger beginning to get control of her.

"Harley, so glad you could join me at last" the Joker leered, having recovered from the shock of Harley bursting through the door.

"I know what game you've been playing. You did exactly the same thing to me and I'm here ta tell ya that you're not doing the same to Ivy" Harley told him, brandishing the bat.

"Harley, Harley, Harley. Can't you see that I've won? Look at her" the Joker laughed, pointing at the prone Ivy on the screen.

"We are not your playthings! You can't just lock us up here and play your mind games with us. That doesn't work anymore" Harley shouted at him.

"I created you Harley. I made you what you are. You might have escaped me but that doesn't make it any less true" the Joker sneered.

"You didn't make me. I ran away from you and found who I am, without you. I put all of this behind me but you keep dredging things up every time you come back into my life. I don't need that. I don't need you anymore" Harley told him.

"Then you're just another one of my experiments that failed" the Joker growled, trying to grab Harley but she danced out of his reach.

"What are you talking about? Experiments?" Harley questioned him.

"Do you really think you're the first Harley? There were many before you, but they all failed. So I found them and locked them up" the Joker told her.

"So where are they now?" Harley asked.

"Still locked up. They're skeletons now. I could hardly let them be free, could I? Going around in my name, making a mockery of me" the Joker babbled.

Harley looked at him in disbelief. She knew that there had been other's before her. Once before the Joker had chained her to a wall along with a room filled with skeletons, all of them previous assistants of some sort. All of whom had failed him. She hadn't realised the extent of his madness. Now he was trying to erase not just Harley but Ivy too. Harley swung her baseball bat and hit the console, taking out half the buttons and causing most of the screens to go black. The Joker tried to prise the bat out of Harley's hands but she swung the bat and caught him full on in his face. The Joker spat blood out onto the floor and growled at Harley. She backed away but found herself backed up against the sparking console. The Joker lunged at her and she ducked through his legs. Caught off balance the Joker fell onto the console and got an electric shock from the exposed wires. His body convulsed and juddered as the current passed through him. Harley took advantage and swung her bat down on the back of the Joker's head. When the bat hit she felt the impact travel down the handle and heard a hard thump. The Joker slumped to the floor and blood splattered the floor. At first Harley wasn't sure if he was dead or unconscious. She risked bending down to feel his pulse. It was still there but it was very weak. She raised the bat again, about to swing it and finish the Joker off but something stopped her. She looked at the Joker on the floor. She knew she wouldn't get another chance like this to erase him from her life for good but she couldn't do it. She couldn't sink to his level. She put her baseball bat back in her bag and turned to leave.

"You got lucky" she told the Joker, pushing the button to release the sliding door that had been holding Ivy prisoner.

She ran out of the control room, hoping that she and Ivy would be able to escape the Asylum before the Joker came to.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

The first thing that Ivy felt when she regained consciousness again was the pain. Her skin still felt like it was on fire after the electrics shocks she had received. It took her a while to remember where she was. At first she thought that she was still locked in Mr Freeze's cell, but then she remembered everything that had come after that. She tried to pick herself up off the floor but found she didn't have the strength left.

"Do you really think you're the first Harley? There were many before you, but they all failed. So I found them and locked them up" the Joker told her.

"So where are they now?" Harley asked.

"Still locked up. They're skeletons now. I could hardly let them be free, could I? Going around in my name, making a mockery of me" the Joker babbled.

Ivy tried to make sense of what she was hearing. It was clearly the tail end of the exchange between the Joker and Harley. Which meant that Ivy had stalled the Joker enough to give Harley time to get there. Ivy saw all of the cell doors spring open. She eventually worked out that either Harley or the Joker must have destroyed part of the console in the fight. She half expected another electric shock by one of them accidently pressing the button in the ensuing chaos. But instead of received another electric shock she fell through the door as it slid out of the way. She lay sprawled on the floor waiting for who was going to come running down the corridor. She had a sick feeling in her stomach, dreading that it would be the Joker. She tried, once again, to pick herself up off the floor but she was still too weak. She heard footsteps in the distance and tried to lift her head up to see who it was, but found that she couldn't. Exhausted she lay there waiting for whoever it was to reach her. She felt a pair of arms pick her up and cradle her.

"Ivy, what has he done to you?" Harley asked her.

She held Ivy close to her, not wanting to let her go again. Ivy snuggled into Harley's embrace and at last felt safe. Harley had managed to get away from the Joker, whether she was unharmed or not Ivy couldn't tell.

"Come on Red, we've got to get away" Harley told her.

"I don't think I can get up" Ivy confessed.

Harley gathered Ivy into her arms and started to walk down the corridor. She carried Ivy past her old office and knew that it wouldn't be long until they left the Asylum behind them for good. They walked through the entrance hall and as Harley walked towards the entrance door with Ivy in her arms she half expected the Joker's laugh to come back on the speaker system as he locked them in. But it didn't. Harley kicked the front door open and carried Ivy down the steps and out into the pouring rain. As Harley made her way through the courtyard, over the cobbled stones, she felt the rain soaking her skin. She held Ivy closer to her, protecting her from the rain. She carried Ivy through the gates of the Asylum and once they were safely through placed Ivy down on the ground. She held Ivy up, supporting her because she was still very unsteady on her feet.

"I don't want any arguments from you Red, you're coming back to my apartment. I'm not leaving you on your own. Not after that" Harley told Ivy.

Ivy had enough strength to nod her agreement. Harley smiled and with her spare arm she dug in the storage compartment of her motorbike for her spare helmet. When she eventually found it she brought it out and place it on Ivy's head. She carefully sat Ivy on the back of the motorbike and took her own helmet off and placed it on her own head. She placed Ivy's hands around her waist. Before she revved the engine she took one last look at the Asylum.

"Alright Daffodil, hold on tight" Harley advised Ivy as she revved the engine and the motorbike started up.

Harley rode away from the Asylum gates, leaving it behind, along with everything that went on inside. The rain continued to pour down, soaking them both. Harley could feel her clothes starting to stick to her skin. She felt Ivy's arms around her waist and for the first time that day she felt loved and safe. She turned the accelerator and her motorbike sped up and she watched in the mirror as Arkham Asylum became a distant dot.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

Big Tony had been doing as Harley had asked whilst she'd been away. He'd been on the top floor of the apartment block feeding and watering all of her little furry friends. He'd also been doing the less pleasant job of cleaning up after them. It was now late afternoon, the sun was starting to set in the sky and Tony was downstairs setting up the stage for Queenie's show that evening. He was distracted though. He'd spent all day looking out any window that was nearby, waiting for Harley to come riding back on her motorbike but all day he'd been disappointed. Queenie had been backstage watching him and finally decided that enough was enough.

"Alright Tony, you've been staring out of windows all day. Come on" Queenie told him, pointing him backstage.

"So yer telling me that yer not worried about her?" Tony asked Queenie.

"Of course I am but I'm just trying to not show it. Beside there's nothing we can do" Queenie explained.

"She's been gone a long time. Something bad has happened to her, I know it" Tony sighed.

"We've done all that we can. Ivy's gone to help, there's nothing else we can do. Now come on, we've got a show tonight" Queenie ordered him.

Tony dragged himself out of the seat he'd slumped in and up the stairs onto the stage. He began pulling bits of set out from behind the stage and setting them up. Queenie watched him work for a while before she went backstage herself, into the dressing rooms, to get the costumes set out for that nights show. Tony continued pulling bits out from behind the stage and setting them up on stage, knowing that if Queenie popped her head through the dressing room door and saw him slacking again he'd be in trouble for real. He picked up a particularly large piece of set and was dragging on stage when he heard a noise from outside. He stopped working and paused, trying to guess what it was that he could hear. It was a motorbike engine. Queenie had clearly heard the noise as well as she appeared from the dressing room. Tony had rushed off the stage and over to the window. He peered out and could see Harley's motorbike coming down the road.

"Is that Harley?" Queenie asked as Tony rushed out of the room.

He ran out of the building and pushed the button beside the garage door, causing it to slowly roll up. As the bike got closer Tony could see that there were two figures on the bike. Harley pulled the bike into the open garage and took her helmet off. She helped Ivy off the back of the bike. As Ivy got off the back of the motorbike she stumbled and Harley caught her.

"Don't worry Red, I've got you" she reassured her.

Tony saw that both women had cuts and bruises. He was about to ask them what had happened at Arkham Asylum when Harley turned to him.

"Tony, I don't suppose you could do me a favour?" Harley asked him.

"Sure, Harl" Tony agreed.

"Could you get someone to pick up some clothes for Ivy?" Harley requested.

"I'm sure Queenie could find somethin' for her" Tony replied.

"Thanks Tony" Harley said.

"But…" Tony was about to ask Harley what had happened at Arkham when she rushed off, carrying Ivy in her arms.

Unsure as to what to do next Tony closed the garage door and headed back to the stage. Queenie was stood in the centre of the stage.

"Well?" She question Tony.

"All I can you is she's back with Ivy in tow. I don't know much more than that. They both look pretty beat up though" Tony told Queenie.

Queenie looked a little disappointed at the lack of news and was about to turn around and go back into the dressing room when Tony remembered what Harley had asked him to do for her.

"Queenie, before you go, I don't suppose you could find some clothes for Ivy?" Tony asked Queenie, making sure to be polite.

"I'm sure I can find something for her" Queenie replied, disappearing into the dressing room.

Tony wondered what had gone on at Arkham. He entertained the thought of going up and asking Harley what had happened but decided against it. He knew that Harley would tell them all what had happened when she was ready. Right now she needed some time on her own with Ivy. Tony could only imagine what sort of ordeal they had been through. He got up on the stage and popped his head through the door to the dressing room.

"Just leave Ivy's clothes outside Harley's door. I get the feeling they want to be alone" Tony told Queenie.

Queenie nodded in agreement and continued to gather clothes up into a pile. Tony returned to getting the stage ready for that nights show. He'd not been working for long when Queenie re-emerged from the dressing room with a pile of clothes in her arms. He watched her leave the room and go up the stairs to drop them off in front of Harley's apartment.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

Harley carried Ivy up the stairs and into her apartment. She somehow managed to open the door and carry Ivy through the threshold and into her bedroom. Harley laid Ivy down on her bed and threw her weapons bag down onto the floor. Ivy curled up on Harley's bed. Harley laid herself down next to Ivy so they were face to face.

"Before we go any further I've got a confession I need ta make" Harley told Ivy, silencing her.

"Confession?" Ivy asked, concerned.

"I'm guessing you know that I knocked the Joker out, that's how we managed to escape but…" Harley began.

"But what?" Ivy prompted, waiting for Harley to continue.

"What I didn't tell you was that I had a chance to stop the Joker for good. I coulda killed him Ivy but I didn't. I stopped myself" Harley told Ivy.

"What do you mean you had a chance to stop him?" Ivy questioned, wanting clarification.

"When he fell on the broken console he got electrocuted so I took advantage and hit him over the back of the head with my bat. He fell to the ground and at first I wasn't sure if I'd killed him or knocked him out. When I felt his pulse I knew he was still alive. I had the chance to finish him off and I was about to do it. I had raised my bat and was about ta bring it down on his head when I stopped. I just couldn't do it. After everything he'd done ta me and had done ta us I couldn't kill him. I couldn't sink ta his level" Harley explained, hoping that Ivy would understand.

"You did the right thing Harley. If you'd have killed him then he'd have won. The game he's been playing with you all your life he's been trying to get you to do something like that all this time. Trying to get you to sink to his level. But by not killing him, by letting him live, you won" Ivy reassured Harley.

"Enough about him. Are you alright? I heard what he was saying to you" Harley asked Ivy.

"I'd like to say I'm fine but I'd be lying. I know it was just the Joker playing one of his mind games with me but I couldn't help but feel there was a truth to what he was saying" Ivy replied.

"Ivy, I love you. You know that, I know you do. I might have a weird way of showing it but I do" Harley told her.

"And I love you too. But…was there some truth to what he said?" Ivy questioned Harley.

Harley turned herself to face away from Ivy to answer that question.

"There might be. I can't help it Ivy. After being trapped in a relationship like I had with the Joker I wondered if I'd ever find something true. Someone who really made me happy. There were some bumps along the road but eventually I found you. You'd been there all along. Telling me how bad the Joker was for me and for so long I didn't listen. But you've always been there for me. It took me a little bit longer to realise how I felt about you but when I did. There's no off switch with how I feel about you now. Maybe there used to be but not anymore. Why do you think I'm always so please to see you now? You're the best thing that ever happened to me Ivy and I never want to lose you. I want you with me all the time. I feel like I'm split in two when we're not together" Harley confessed, tears falling down her cheeks.

Ivy wrapped her arms around Harley's waist and rested her head on Harley's shoulder. She wiped away the tear that was rolling down Harley's cheek.

"Why didn't you tell me? If you'd told me you felt like this I'd never had said no to your offer. I know I've got other things that I'm doing but…nothing is more important to me than your happiness. You've been through so much you deserve to be happy for a change. Why do you think I came running to save you when Tony called me?" Ivy whispered in Harley's ear.

"I've been meaning to thank you for that Red. I don't know what I've done if you hadn't come. I'd have been trapped there forever, forced to play the Joker's game until it ended one of us" Harley said, turning back around to face Ivy.

"I don't think I thanked you properly for saving me, twice. When you were running off the beat the Joker the only piece I had of you was your jacket, you have no idea how much of a comfort that was to me" Ivy told Harley, looking deep into her eyes.

Harley reached out and stroked Ivy's face. She felt the smooth skin of her cheek and traced her features until she reached Ivy's lips. Harley pulled Ivy closer, feeling her warmth against her skin. Harley kissed Ivy and didn't want the moment to stop. She felt the warmth of Ivy's lips pressed against her own. She felt safe and loved. She wished that they could stay locked in her bedroom forever. Ivy slipped Harley's jacket off her shoulders and threw it on the floor. Harley kicked off her own boots and they hit the floor with a clunk. A few seconds later there was a knock at the door. Harley sighed.

"You'd better go and see who that is" Ivy told her between kisses.

Harley was about to moan but Ivy put a finger on her lips. Harley got up from the bed and opened the door to her apartment. She was surprised when she found the doorway empty. She looked both ways to check that there wasn't anyone there before she looked down. She saw a pile of clothes on the floor. She figured that Queenie must have left them for Ivy. She picked the clothes up off the floor and bought them into the bedroom to find that Ivy had already stripped off her own clothes and nestled herself into the covers.

"Where did they come from?" Ivy asked her from beneath the covers.

"Queenie. I thought you'd need some clothes since you'll be staying for a while" Harley told her.

"I'll be staying for as long as you need me" Ivy breathed.

"Does forever work for you?" Harley questioned.

"If that's what you want" Ivy responded.

Harley stripped off her own clothes and joined Ivy under the covers. She snuggled herself up against Ivy.

"So you'll stay, for real this time?" Harley queried.

"I'll stay. I've had enough time to think about it and…I don't think I can be without you either" Ivy told her.

Harley kissed Ivy's shoulder and began to gradually work her way up to her mouth. They spent that night lost in each other's embrace, not wanting the night to end.


End file.
